Dear ________________,

the _________ committee is concerned about the decline of German language instruction in our schools. We would like to bring to your attention that there is a constituency of students interested in studying German. In the past, German was offered in the middle school and high school, and we would like to ask that it be reintroduced.

There are many important reasons for including German in the World Languages program; one of the most important is the global economy. Over 1100 German firms have subsidiaries in the USA, and there are many job opportunities for employees who are proficient in German. On the other side of the Atlantic, there are 750 American firms that do business in Germany alone, but there are over 1800 American companies that do business in all of the German-speaking countries. Germany is America’s most important trading partner in Europe, and the German language is key to the markets of Eastern Europe. Just a few of the many fields that require German language proficiency are arts and sciences, diplomatic, education, medical, pharmaceutical, political science, technological, and tourism fields.

Another fact you may not be aware of is that German is the most commonly used language on the Internet after English. This is good news for students that are interested in becoming IT professionals and who are also learning German. In addition, German is the second most commonly used language for scholarly publications worldwide.

Students who go on to the university and then graduate school will find many opportunities to put their German language skills to work. Finally, Germany is one of the most active partners of the USA in student exchanges. With the German American Part-nership Program (GAPP), more than 10,000 students study abroad in Germany or the US each year.

For the reasons listed above as well as many others, we would greatly appreciate if you were to put this issue on the agenda at the _________ School Board Meeting. A representative from our committee will be present to speak.

Thank you very much for considering this request.

Sincerely,